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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Lt. Arthur Martyn "Hoppy" Hopkins
British Army 11th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps
from:Holloway, London
(d.29th March 1918)
Dear Mr & Mrs Hopkins,
Kindly excuse me taking the liberty of writing you, but I feel as I must, as I was Mr. Hopkins' servant. May I express my deepest sympathy of the sad news of the death of your son, which occurred on Good Friday afternoon. He was keeping the hearts of his men up wonderfully and we were in a very hot corner when he got the fatal blow. We think it was by a sniper. It might ease your sorrow to know that he suffered no pain, death was instant. I had been his servant since last August and we had been together in many a warm corner since then and we were only congratulations ourselves the day before on the luck we had had, for we were all through that terrible Cambrian fight which started on the 30th November and we were not touched.
Mr Hopkins did splendid work there and though only a junior officer then, when nearly all the officers were gone, he acted as Colonel and he should have been decorated for it. He had no fear and would volunteer to go anywhere, he was very much liked by all his men and was in command of his Company at the time when his death occurred. We had been through 7 days of severe fighting and only two officers in his Company were left. I was not actually on the spot when it occurred and I was told the sad news a few minutes later. I shall always remember Mr Hopkins as a perfect gentleman and friend. I asked for a photo of him and he promised me one, so if you have a spare photo which you can part with, may I beg it of you please for rembrance sake. Now I must close, hoping this sad news will not come as a great blow, but it happened to a good many brave fellows in our Battalion. You can think in the future that he died as a brave soldier, he had done his duty well. I should be very pleased if you could drop me a line in return, so I know you have received this letter. His kit will be sent home shortly so must close.
I remain yours sincerely
R Foster, B Coy, 11th Bttn KRRC, BEF, France
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